Jada Pinkett Smith no longer cares what people think about her.

The 42-year-old actress - who has son Jaden, 15, and daughter Willow, 12, with her 'After Earth' star husband Will Smith - used to want to be liked by everyone and it left her feeling miserable so now she refuses to pay attention to her critics.

In an open letter of advice to a mystery friend on her Facebook page, she wrote: ''I will tell you this, I have learned that just because something has been done a certain way for a long time does not mean that it's the appropriate approach for you. Conditions and traditions are great when they work. When they don't, I believe it's important to muster the strength to create the dynamics that specifically work for the experience we desire to create and is unique to our lives, and it almost never reflects what is 'accepted'. Who said OUR decisions, OUR lives must look like anyone else's?''

She added: ''Be your own opinion leader and let your approval, in regard to your own life, be enough.''

Jada previously hit back at her critics for blasting her parenting skills after she let her daughter shave her head last year.

She said: ''I think that old school style of 'I'm your parent and I'm greater than you' doesn't work. What I establish with my children is a partnership. I'm not necessarily dictating what is happening in their lives.''